TAB by Song : 78912
Tab List Area
1 Pages 1 Results
The Last Straw by Marillion
The Last Straw
Legend
10b12 means bend from the tenth fret to the twelfth.
(10)b12 means pre-bend
20r18 means release bend
~ indicates vibrato.
/ means slide
\/ means dive with whammy bar.
p indicates pull off, and
h indicates hammer on
q indicates quarter tone bend.
Intro and Verse - Clean guitar with Chorus and Delay
e-----------------------------------------------|
B-----1--3--1h3p1p0-----0-h-1--0----------------|
G-----2--------------2------------2--2-p-0--0---|
D-----2-----------------------------------------|
A--0--0-----------------------------------------|
E-----------------------------------------------|
e--------------------------------2--
B-----1--3--1h3p1p0-----1--------3--
G-----2--------------2-----0-----2--
D-----2-----------------------3--0--
A--0--0-----------------------------
E-----------------------------------
There are slight fills at the end of this, which are different
for the two verses. They are
1 2
e---0h2--|--3-2---|
B--------|--------|
G--------|--------|
D--------|--------|
A--------|--------|
E--------|--------|
The bits between verses are just Eb and F chords played as
follows
Eb F
e---6---------|
B---8----10---|
G---8----10---|
D---8----10---|
A---6----8----|
E-------------|
It goes Eb - F - Eb - F - Eb - F -Eb - F - F - F.
SR arpeggiates the chords second time around.
After the second 'chorus' he whips on a capo at the third fret
and plays an arpeggiated Cm7 as follows.
e------------------6--|
B-----------4p3h4-----|
G--------5------------|
D-----5---------------|
A--3------------------|
E---------------------|
He plays this repeadedly until the solo (There are various odd
bits of guitar under it but I haven't bothered to work them out)
Solo - a cracker. It's simple and very effective and I think I read
somewhere that he improvised it!!
e--------------------------------------------------------|
B--(16)b18~---11--9--11--(11)b13~------------------------|
G--------------------------------------------------------|
D---------------------------------------3--6--3--8/10\8--|
A--------------------------------------------------------|
E--------------------------------------------------------|
dive with bar
e----------------------------------------------------13--|
B-----------------------16-p-13--16~--16p13--(16)b18-----|
G--------------------------------------------------------|
D--8p6p3--3--6q\----/------------------------------------|
A---------------\--/-------------------------------------|
E----------------\/--------------------------------------|
|-------| rpt x 8
e--(15)b16~-16--(15)b16--16--18--(18)b20~------16p13-----|
B-------------------------------------------13-----------|
G--------------------------------------------------------|
D--------------------------------------------------------|
A--------------------------------------------------------|
E--------------------------------------------------------|
e----------------------------------------------------------|
B--(16)b18-------------------------------------------------|
G-----------13--13~--13h15p13--13~\------------------------|
D------------------------------------6~-3--6h8-6-8/10--10~-|
A----------------------------------------------------------|
E----------------------------------------------------------|
e----------------------------------------------16-18-(18)b20~|
B-----------------------------------16-(16)b18---------------|
G--10\-------------------------------------------------------|
D-------6~-8--6--8/10--8~--10-6p5p3--------------------------|
A------------------------------------------------------------|
E------------------------------------------------------------|
Then this bit which is great fun - still distorted.
e-----3---------------------3--3-----------------|
B-----4--3------------------4-----4-----6--------|
G-----5-----3-----5---------5--------3--5--------|
D-----5--------3--6---------5-----------3--------|
A--3--3-----------6------3--3--------------------|
E-----------------4------------------------------|
This chord sequence is used until the end. Steve solos over it
after a while, using the same melodic ideas as the solo, but
now in Cm as opposed to Fm.
Hotel hobbies padding dawns hollow corridors
A typewriter cackles out a stream of memories
Drying out a conscience, evicting a nightmare
Opening the doors for the dreams to come home
We live out lives in private shells
Ignore our senses and fool ourselves
To thinking that out there there's someone else cares
Someone to answer all our prayers
Are we too far gone, are we so irresponsible
Have we lost our balls, or do we just not care
We're terminal cases that keep talking medicine
Pretending the end isn't quite that near
We make futile gestures, act to the cameras
With our made up faces and PR smiles
And when the angel comes down, down to deliver us
We'll find out that after all, we're only men of straw
But everything is still the same
Passing the time passing the blame
We carry on in the same old way
We'll find out we left it too late one day to say what we meant to say
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the water
Those problems seem to arise the ones you never really thought of
The feeling you get is similar to something like drowning
Out of your mind, you're out of your depth, you should have taken soundings
Clutching at straws, we're clutching at straws
And if you ever come across us don't give us your sympathy
You can buy us a drink and just shake our hands
And you'll recognise by the reflection in our eyes
That deep down inside we're all one and the same
We're clutching at straws
We're still drowning Clutching at straws
-----------